What was the earliest computer?

The earliest computer was the [Atanasoff-Berry Computer], which used electrical energy and electronic components. At that time, it was an electronic vacuum tube. It used a binary system instead of the usual decimal system, and used capacitors as the Memory, reproducible and error-free, performs direct logical operations.

The earliest computer is:

It may be written in many textbooks: "The world's first modern computer The electronic computer "ENIAC" (ENIAC) was born at the University of Pennsylvania on February 14, 1946." But in fact, Atanasoff-Berry Computer(Atanasoff-Berry Computer (abbreviated as ABC) is officially the world's first electronic computer, created by John Vincent Atanasoff of Iowa State University and his graduate student Clifford Berry. Berry) developed between 1937 and 1941.

Four characteristics of ABC

First, the use of electrical energy and electronic components, which at that time were electronic vacuum tubes;

Second, the use of binary bits system instead of the usual decimal system;

Third, use capacitors as memory, which is reproducible and avoid errors;

Fourth, perform direct logical operations instead of ordinary numbers arithmetic.

Manufacturing process

In the 1930s, Bulgarian Atanasov studied at Iowa State University As an associate professor in the Department of Physics, when he taught students how to solve linear partial differential equations, he had to face complicated calculations, which was boring work that consumed a lot of time... Atanasov then developed new ideas, and from 1935 Begin to explore the possibilities of using digital electronics for computing work.

After two years of repeated research and testing, the ideas have become clearer and clearer, and the design has generally been figured out. But he also needed someone who was smart, understood mechanics, and had hands-on skills to complete the invention, so he found Clifford Berry, a graduate student who was studying for a master's degree in the Department of Physics at the time.

The two men finally built a complete prototype in 1939, proving that their concept was correct and could be realized. People called this prototype ABC, which stands for the computer that contains their names (Atanasoff-Berry Computer).

This computer is a combination of electronics and electrical appliances. The circuit system is equipped with 300 electronic vacuum tubes to perform digital calculations and logical operations. The machine uses capacitors for numerical storage, and the data input uses the punch card reading method. The binary system is used. Therefore, the design of ABC has included the four most important basic concepts in modern computers. From this perspective, it is a truly modern electronic computer.

The battle with ENIAC for the first computer

Atanasoff’s “Atanasoff-Berry Computer” (ABC for short) model machine is right on the threshold of analog computing and digital computing. Since Babbage designed the difference engine and the analytical engine, in the second half of the 19th century, some physicists began to develop analog computing devices. In 1876, L. Kelvin, who discovered the second law of thermodynamics, and his brother developed a "tidal harmonic analyzer" that could calculate Fourier coefficients. In 1887, American physicist Michelson, who together with E. Morley denied the existence of ether, developed a more accurate analyzer. In 1930, American scientist and educator V Bush and others developed a differential analyzer. When using it to calculate the firepower table, it was dozens of times faster than manual calculation. Starting from ABC, human calculations progressed from analog to digital. And "ENIAC" marks the official entry of computers into the digital era.

On October 19, 1973, after 135 hearings, a district court in Minnesota, USA, publicly announced: “Mauchly and Eckert did not invent the first computer, but only used Atanasoff. The idea in the invention." and ruled that the patents of Mauchly and Eckert were invalid on the grounds that Atanasoff had told Mauchly his preliminary idea for the computer as early as 1941. However, the University of Iowa, where Atanasoff worked, did not apply for a patent for the ABC computer, and the lawsuit was not filed by several computer designers themselves, but by two computer companies, Honeywell and Sperry Rand.

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